Networking vs. rote learning strategies in concept acquisition

Following presentation of a slide-tape instructional program, the performance of subjects in two learning strategy groups-networking and rote-was compared to a control group on a concept learning task and a spatial learning task. Networking proved more effective than rote learning and the control group on both tasks; networking also allowed for improved retention over time (in this case, one week). This article reviews some of the research on learning strategies and suggests how the network strategy can enhance learning in academic situations.     

Metaphors,discourse and identity in adult literacy policy

This paper discusses the metaphors and discourses employed in the current Skills for Life Strategy in terms of the identity of potential adult literacy learners. It argues that metaphors and discourses are necessarily value laden and reflect the beliefs of those with authority to influence others. The current Strategy, it is argued, is based on a discourse of deficit, outcomes and employability that positions adult literacy learners as ‘depersonalised others’.     

Food terrorism and food defense on the Web

Global food supplies are at risk of both accidental and deliberate contamination. As past incidents have demonstrated, food terrorism may cause social, economic, and political disruption. The United States increased its efforts to protect its food after 9/11 by broadening the roles of existing agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, and by making coordination of food defense the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security. However, weaknesses in the system remain. This article presents background information and Web sites useful for consumers, industry representatives, students, researchers, policy makers, and the librarians that serve them.     

Understanding Scale: Powers of Ten

The classic film “Powers of Ten” is often employed to catalyze the building of more accurate conceptions of scale, yet its effectiveness is largely unknown. This study examines the impact of the film on students’ concepts of size and scale. Twenty-two middle school students and six science teachers participated. Students completed pre- and post-intervention interviews and a Scale Card Sorting (SCS) task; all students observed the film “Powers of Ten.” Experienced teachers’ views on the efficacy of the film were assessed through a short written survey. Results showed that viewing the film had a positive influence on students’ understandings of powers of ten and scale. Students reported that they had more difficulty with sizes outside of the human scale and found small scales more difficult to conceptualize than large scales. Students’ concepts of relative size as well as their ability to accurately match metric sizes in scientific notation to metric scale increased from pre- to post-viewing of the film. Experienced teachers reported that the film was a highly effective tool. Teachers reported that the design of the film that allowed students to move slowly from the human scale to the large and small scales and then quickly back again was effective in laying the foundation for understanding the different scales. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 0411656 and 0507151.     

Planning responses to demographic change

The United Kingdom faces a decline in the 18-year-old cohort from 900,000 + in the mid-1980s to 600,000 + in the mid-1990s. Will a third of the universities close? More important, will industry and commerce cope with the potential reduction in skilled manpower production? A method is described for forecasting graduate numbers and their quality by discipline, and suggestions are made about ways in which society could react so as to influence unacceptable trends.     

Teaching for Open‐Mindedness: A Justice‐Oriented Approach

This article explores the pedagogical virtue of open‐mindedness in practice and its relationship to epistemic justice through analysis of a fictional, narrative case. The case focuses on a young white woman who attempts to implement a pedagogy of open‐mindedness as she teaches a unit on the civil rights movement. After presenting the case scenario, Tadashi Dozono and Rebecca Taylor examine three tensions that arise for teachers as they seek to enact a pedagogy of open‐mindedness. First, what form of open‐mindedness should guide them? Second, how should they respond to limits in their own knowledge and understanding? And finally, how should teachers exercise authority within a pedagogy of open‐mindedness? Their analysis confronts the tension between the teacher's own open‐mindedness, on the one hand, and the teacher's subject position, on the other. Through this exploration of open‐mindedness, Dozono and Taylor argue that, in practice, teachers must counteract legacies of epistemic injustice as a necessary part of cultivating their own and their students' access to open‐mindedness.     

A dynamic model of memory for research on human information processing

This article outlines a broad theoretical framework for understanding the human information processing system as a whole. It represents one attempt to integrate the relatively static models of memory structures with the more dynamic conceptions underlying research on control and processing mechanisms. The framework embodies the synthesis of a number of conceptual orientations, including contemporary emphases on working memory, item-specific and relational information, metacognition and schema abstraction. This synthesis rests on the basic assumption that the nature of knowledge structures in human long-term memory depends on the type of information processing whereby these cognitive structures were generated.